Nazarian discusses this and this article by Azg newspaper. The first article is dealing with “plans to build small dams and hydro-electric plants on the Vanadzor river”, which has resulted in protests among the intellectual elite and concerned citizens in Vanadzor on grounds, that the project is potentially dangerous for the environment and is seen as merely “a ploy for the Hasmik Ltd to prepare ground for privatizing the gorge”. The second article Nazarian has drawn readers attention to is “about the continuing practice of marshrutka drivers smoking”, which, although is a direct violation of law according to Nazarian, is largely ignored, in part, because like the blogger says “the passengers are reluctant to do anything as they are not willing to get into an argument with the occasional grumpy driver”.
The problem is, if you don’t fight for your rights, nobody else is going to. The non-smokers are lucky that there is a law and they got the law without a fight as it was presented to them by the government pretending to be a European country. All that is required of them now is to put a little effort to defend their rights.
On a similar note, the “Stubborn,” a student in Yerevan, has posted on the CRD / TI Armenia Election Monitor 2007 about attempts by the Prosperous Armenia party provides free transportation to students in Yerevan in an attempt to ensure their support for the party:
For example, Prosperous Armenia Party has organized free transportation for students from the regions to attend classes at their colleges and universities in Yerevan.
[…]
This group of students didn’t like this and refused to use the service as a matter of principle.
Some of the students worried that their identification documents which had been collected in order to receive a pass for the buses would now result in their names appearing in the party’s membership list. A member of the party could not confirm or deny this possibility when asked and instead appeared shocked by the sudden interest from the students, thus giving them reason to be concerned.
However, other students didn’t seem to care at all. It was a free service, so forget about principles!
